Europe’s First Underwater Restaurant Looks Like A Rock From Outside

Europe is home to the Greek Parthenon in Athens, the Roman Colosseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and many, many more architectural masterpieces. You know what it’s lacking, though? An underwater restaurant. But a company called Snohetta is on a quest to change that. They have designed a three-level structure with a 36-foot-wide panoramic window that allows visitors to “journey” to the sea in southern Norway.

At first glance, “Under” looks like a concrete container, tossed into the shallows near the village Båly, but once inside it radiates life. The restaurant will have the space to fit up to 100 guests, and the building will even double as a marine research centre when no one is dining.

“More than an aquarium, the structure will become a part of its marine environment, coming to rest directly on the sea bed five meters below the water’s surface,” Snøhetta writes. “Like a sunken periscope, the restaurant’s massive acrylic windows offer a view of the seabed as it changes throughout the seasons and varying weather conditions.”

Snøhetta hopes to begin construction next year, with the goal of opening in 2019.